25 April 2023

Chief Justice Roberts declines to testify before Senate panel

April 25, 20237:35 PM ET

NPR Washington Desk

Chief Justice John Roberts says he won't testify before a Senate panel that is examining judicial ethics.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

"Chief Justice John Roberts has declined an invitation from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to testify before the panel, calling such testimony by chief justices "exceedingly rare."

The Senate panel had planned to hold a hearing on May 2 to examine what Durbin called "common sense proposals" to hold Supreme Court justices to the same ethical standards as the rest of the federal judiciary, and Durbin had invited Roberts "or his designate" to take part.

"Testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee by the Chief Justice of the United States is exceedingly rare, as one might expect in light of the separation of powers concerns and the importance of preserving judicial independence," Roberts wrote in his response to the invitation.

Durbin, in a subsequent statement, said: "Make no mistake: Supreme Court ethics reform must happen when the Court participates in the process or not." Any such effort at reform is unlikely to have enough support in Congress.

The hearings follow a series of news reports that raised questions about Justice Clarence Thomas his business dealings, and vacations that he took that were paid for by a friend, a Republican donor."